n8n Self-Hosted vs Cloud: $6.49 VPS or the €20 Plan?

Self-hosting n8n costs as little as $6.49 to $24 a month for the server, because the Community Edition has no license fee. n8n Cloud costs €20 a month (about $22) for 2,500 executions or €50 (about $56) for 10,000, billed annually. Cloud is usually the better deal below 10,000 executions once you count your time. Self-hosting wins above that, or when you need features Cloud doesn’t offer.

Run your own numbers in the n8n vs Make vs Zapier cost calculator.

All prices were checked on the vendors’ own pages on 29 October 2026 and exclude tax. Hosting prices in particular change with promotions, so confirm before you buy. More guides are in our AI automation hub.

n8n Cloud plans in USD, CAD and AUD

n8n lists Cloud prices in euros. We converted them at the European Central Bank reference rates for 28 October 2026: €1 = $1.1133 USD, C$1.5638 and A$1.5830. Your card will use its own rate and may add a foreign-transaction fee. Viewed from a US browser on 29 October 2026, n8n.io/pricing shows USD prices instead: Starter $20/mo billed annually or $24 monthly, Pro $50 or $60 (10,000 executions), Pro with 50,000 executions $120 or $144, and Business $800 or $960. The plan you are billed in depends on your account region, so check the currency at checkout.

Checked 29 October 2026 at n8n.io/pricing. Annual billing saves 17% versus monthly; monthly prices were not visible on the page we read.

A few plan facts that affect the comparison:

• Unlimited users and workflows on every plan. You pay for executions, and one execution is a full workflow run regardless of steps.
• Execution limits per run. Starter caps a single execution at 5 minutes, Pro at 40 minutes.
• Trial. 1,000 executions, no credit card.
• Startups. Companies under 20 employees may qualify for 50% off Business.
• Data location. Hosted plans store data in Frankfurt, Germany.

Self-hosting: VPS prices from three providers

n8n’s Community Edition runs on any Linux server. Below are the plans most people would pick for a single n8n instance, from each provider’s own pricing page.

Checked 29 October 2026. Hostinger’s prices are a Black Friday promotion and its page says prices are listed without VAT. Hetzner’s page showed some plans as temporarily unavailable when we checked, and its cheaper Cost-Optimized line (from €5.99) as “currently not available.”

Hostinger’s n8n plans come with a one-click n8n template and include queue mode. Its support covers the VPS and getting n8n running, but not your workflows, configuration or custom code. DigitalOcean and Hetzner give you a plain server: you install n8n yourself, or use a one-click app or Docker.

Which size do you need?

We have not benchmarked these servers, so treat sizing as a starting point. A light workload of scheduled workflows and webhooks usually fits a 2 GB to 4 GB machine. Heavier use (large files, AI agent nodes, many concurrent runs) needs more RAM. All three providers let you resize later.

The hidden costs of self-hosting

The server bill is the smallest part of self-hosting. These are the costs that Cloud includes and self-hosting doesn’t.

Backups

If the server dies, you lose your workflows, credentials and execution history. Budget for backups from day one:

• DigitalOcean: backups cost 20% of the Droplet price (weekly) or 30% (daily). On the $24 Droplet that is $4.80 or $7.20 a month. Snapshots are $0.06/GB per month.
• Hetzner: automatic daily backups with seven slots, priced relative to the server, from €1.198/mo. Snapshots are €0.0143/GB per month.
• Hostinger: its page mentions backups and snapshots but does not list a separate price.

Also export your workflows to Git or another location on a schedule. A server-level backup won’t help if the account itself is the problem.

Upgrades

n8n ships updates often. On Cloud, n8n handles them. When you self-host, you pull new versions, read release notes for breaking changes, and roll back if a node behaves differently. Skipping updates saves time now and creates a bigger, riskier jump later.

Security and uptime

You own OS patches, firewall rules, SSL certificates, SSH keys and monitoring. An n8n instance holds API keys for every connected app, so a neglected server is a real risk, not just an inconvenience. If it goes down at 2 a.m., nobody restarts it unless you set up alerts.

Your time

This is the biggest hidden cost and the hardest to price. Here is a simple way to estimate it. Use your own numbers.

Worked example: 3-year cost at 10,000 executions a month

Assumptions: one instance, 10,000 executions a month, annual Cloud billing, euro converted at $1.1133. For self-hosting we add daily backups and upkeep time valued at an example rate of $50 an hour. That rate is an assumption, not a market figure.

n8n Cloud Pro

• €50 × 36 months = €1,800 ≈ $2,003.94
• Upkeep: none beyond building workflows.

DigitalOcean 4 GiB Droplet with daily backups

• ($24 + $7.20) × 36 = $1,123.20 for server and backups
• 1 hour/month upkeep: 36 × $50 = $1,800 → total $2,923.20
• 0.5 hour/month upkeep: 18 × $50 = $900 → total $2,023.20

Hostinger KVM 2 (promo, then renewal)

• $210.96 for 24 months + $14.99 × 12 = $390.84 for 3 years (≈ $10.86/mo)
• 1 hour/month upkeep: $1,800 → total $2,190.84

The server and backups cost about 20% to 56% of Cloud, but just one hour of upkeep a month erases the savings at this volume. Self-hosting clearly wins when you are already at Cloud’s ceiling (above 10,000 executions, where the next listed option is a quote) or when someone on the team maintains servers anyway, so the extra hour costs little.

What the Sustainable Use License allows

n8n is not open source in the OSI sense. Its self-hosted code is under the Sustainable Use License, a “fair-code” license. The license text says you may use or modify the software “only for your own internal business purposes or for non-commercial or personal use,” and may distribute it only “free of charge for non-commercial purposes.”

n8n’s license FAQ turns that into practical rules:

The test n8n uses is who controls the workflow logic, not whose credentials are used or whether users see the n8n UI. If you are building a SaaS product where customers design their own automations, email n8n before launch.

The Community Edition also lacks some features: custom variables, environments, external secrets, external binary storage, log streaming, multi-main mode, projects, SSO (SAML, LDAP), workflow and credential sharing, and Git version control. Registering your instance with an email unlocks folders, debug in editor and custom execution data for free.

Who should self-host, and who shouldn’t

If you are still choosing between tools, compare usage-based costs in our n8n vs Make vs Zapier pricing guide or browse Zapier alternatives. For a workflow to run first, see the n8n lead generation workflow.

Tax notes for Canada and Australia

Every price above is before tax. Canada has applied GST/HST rules to foreign digital-economy businesses since July 1, 2021, so a Canadian invoice may include GST/HST (CRA). Australia’s GST rate is 10% and applies to imported digital products sold to Australian consumers. Sales to GST-registered Australian businesses that give an ABN are treated differently (ATO). Hetzner’s site has a VAT country selector that includes Australia, so its displayed price can change once you set your country.

For what an AI workload adds on top of hosting, see n8n AI agent cost per run and n8n WhatsApp chatbot cost.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm with an accountant for your situation, and with n8n ([email protected]) if your use case sits near the license line.